Ivan's spouse was
Anastasia Romanovna. They married in 1547 and she died in 1560. Ivan
seemed especially off-balance after Anastasia's death. He then
married six more times, disposing of unwanted wives quickly.

Ivan's
children were Ivan and
Fyodor (by Anastasia). He later had six more children by his
various other wives.

Ivan suspected conspiracies everywhere and eventually announced he
would abdicate because of the lack of loyalty around him.
He was only willing to continue to rule under two conditions:

First,
he would be allowed to deal with alleged deserters at his
discretion.

Second, he would be permitted to possess pieces of land
throughout Russia that were exclusively under his control.

These terms were accepted, and Ivan launched his reign of terror. He
hired a large personal army, the oprichniki, and all
potential traitors were cruelly executed. Ivan retreated and left
the daily duties to his dubious executives.

This infamous corps of
bodyguards was finally dissolved after the Tartars sacked Moscow in
1571.

Succession

Ivan was angered by the way his pregnant daughter-in-law had dressed
herself. When Ivan began to beat her, her husband Ivan Jr. came to her
rescue. The fight escalated and father Ivan killed his son — and
successor — Ivan.

Thus Fyodor later became Ivan's successor.

When Fyodor died without an heir in 1598, the Time of Troubles
began and lasted approximately 15 years.

IVAN THE TERRIBLE AND HIS SON IVAN ON NOVEMBER
16, 1581Ilya
Efimovich Repin, Oil on canvas, 1885Tretyakov Gallery

The
Tartars were a constant threat to Russia. Ivan captured their city Kazan
in 1552 and later Astrakhan in 1556.

ST. BASIL'S CATHEDRAL

St. Basil's Cathedral is an architectural masterpiece
with nine towers built on Red Square.

It was completed in 1561 to honor military victories over the
Tatars. Tradition says that Ivan had the architects blinded so
that they could never again design a building so beautiful.

However, when Ivan was distracted by the Livonian War, the Tartars came back
with a vengeance and burned Moscow to the ground, decimating the
number of inhabitants from 200,000 to 30,000. The year? 1571.